SPJ Members Give Helen Thomas Award a Thumbs Down

Divided members of the Society of Professional Journalists ultimately gave a thumbs down to a journalism award named after Helen…

By October 02, 2011

Divided members of the Society of Professional Journalists ultimately gave a thumbs down to a journalism award named after Helen Thomas.

Members meeting at the SPJ’s national convention upheld the national board’s decision to nix the Helen Thomas Lifetime Achievement Award. Last year, the board dropped the award after Thomas told Rabbi David Nesenoff that the Jews “should get the hell out of Palestine” and go back to Poland and Germany.

When the video of her comments went viral, Thomas retired her column for Hearst Newspapers, then dug in her heels describing herself as a martyr of sorts, because, after all, “Congress, the White House, and Hollywood, Wall Street, are owned by the Zionists.”

Stifled? Nah. 

Helen’s being Helen again with a regular column at the Falls Church News-Press now. This weekend, Thomas weighs in on Palestinian statehood. ‘Nuff said.

© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025

Pesach Benson

Pesach Benson

A Baltimore native, Pesach was with HonestReporting from 2011 to 2020. He edited the Israel Daily News Stream and authored the e-book, Red Lines: HonestReporting’s 8 Categories of Media Bias. Before moving to Israel in 1995, he worked as a reporter for the Baltimore Jewish Times. Pesach has a B.A. in political science from the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, where he was executive editor of the campus newspaper.

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